Yours
by InSilva
Summary: Truth can be unfair and uncomfortable and sometimes there's not much you can do about it. One-shot.


Yours by InSilva

Disclaimer: The boys do not belong to me.

Summary: Truth can be unfair and uncomfortable and sometimes there's not much you can do about it. One-shot.

* * *

The first time Danny noticed it, he almost didn't notice it. His attention was mostly focused on Rusty's stab wound which looked like it was bleeding again although the outrageously patterned shirt made it difficult to tell.

He almost didn't notice it but on some level he did and afterwards, when they were back on their own and he'd offered Rusty the choice of taking his shirt off or being stripped; when he'd redressed the wound and had lain on the bed with Rusty, watching Hawkeye and Trapper John deal with the Korean War by throwing scattershot black humour at it; when room service had been charmed and had arrived and had delivered crab cakes and bacon sandwiches and chocolate mousse and chocolate and lots of it as well as a couple of bottles of whisky; when the eclectic food mix had been eaten and most of the alcohol had been drunk; when Rusty was drifting off to sleep, his head resting against Danny; when Danny was on his own with a glass of good malt and his thoughts, his thoughts then turned back to the conversation.

…s_miling and happy and so, so grateful. "Thank you. Thank you so much."…_

He frowned and he played it back again in his head and…it was _possible_ he was wrong…he supposed benefit of the doubt could be accorded…but what if he was right…?

Rusty shifted a little in his sleep and Danny automatically compensated by moving his body so that Rusty was more comfortable.

"Squidgy," said Rusty unexpectedly and Danny was sidetracked into momentary wonder.

"Drank it all," Rusty added with a hint of _"why are you asking?"_ and Danny, who hadn't been asking but who was still wondering, smiled fondly down at him.

There was a soft half-laugh and then Rusty settled down again into silence and contentment and Danny's mind went back to being busy.

What if he was right? What…what if it had happened before? And Danny spent till morning and a yawning Rusty, replaying every occasion he could think of.

* * *

The next time was a telephone call. The job was over and the wash up call was on speakerphone and they'd all introduced themselves and there had been preliminaries and then the words had been said and Danny had stared at the handset.

It was a bad line. There was static and crackle and even as Danny was starting to tilt his head at the tone and the emphasis, the line went dead and Rusty had leaned over to kill the call.

"Y'alright?" Rusty asked, looking at Danny's face.

"Yeah…" Danny said.

"You don't sound very certain. You want a second opinion."

_Rus, I…_

_What?_

…_nothing._

It was probably nothing. It was almost certainly nothing. If it had been something, it was clearly too late to do anything about it anyway.

_Danny…?_

_Nothing._

_You sure?_

"Let's go celebrate."

* * *

The thing was that now, he was looking for it. Listening for it. It wasn't going to happen every time, of course - for a start, there wasn't always a third party - but it certainly never happened in reverse: this, Danny knew because he looked and listened for that too. He caught a couple of curious glances from Rusty every now and then but he kept most of it well away from his face and what he couldn't hide, he covered with a smile that deepened as he listened and looked.

And then they were back from Iowa and meeting Dalton Browne. The jewels were sitting on Dalton's desk and they were sitting in the chairs in front of him and the money was safe in their pockets and Dalton was smiling and grateful and then it happened.

"Thank you," he said sincerely to Danny. "Thank you so much. I really appreciate all the trouble you went to. I honestly never thought I'd see these again. You are a miracle worker."

Danny leant forward in his chair.

"Excuse me?" Quiet and ominous and he could feel Rusty's eyes lock on to him.

"Thank you," Dalton repeated, his eyes on Danny. "You're amazing. You're beyond words-"

"You're talking to both of us, right?" Tight and restrained while inside he raged.

_Danny…_

Dalton blinked at him. "Both of-"

"Myself and Rusty. Rusty. Rusty who is sitting right-"

"Danny!"

Danny ignored him. He had eyes only for Dalton.

Dalton looked at him, eyes wide and not understanding in the slightest. "Rusty who is-"

"Rusty!" Danny's fists were planted on the desk and he was leaning across it, into Dalton's personal space. "Rusty Ryan! Rusty without whom you would not be sitting there with-"

And as Dalton stared at him with incomprehension, Rusty was suddenly pulling him away and dragging him out of the office and Danny wanted to argue but he let him. So many emotions running through him but he let him. The only thing that was keeping him from exploding in so many directions was Rusty's hand on his chest, on his arm guiding him through corridors and doors. _Let me_ was the command and Danny let him.

Silence. Silence and that wouldn't last, could never last and he knew Rusty would never let it last and he'd never want it to last. All they were waiting for was privacy. Finally, the door shut behind Rusty and he strode across to where Danny was pacing.

"You want to tell me what the fuck that was all about?"

Words fought themselves for priority and order and Rusty stared at him, waiting.

"He wasn't thanking both of us," Danny said eventually.

"_What?"_

"You heard me! He wasn't thanking both of us. He was looking at me and he was thanking me. Me!" The fury rose up in Danny again. "It was like you weren't even there!"

"Oh."

"Oh?" Danny frowned at him and saw the slight drop in Rusty's gaze and the tiny shift in Rusty's shoulders and the frown deepened. "_Oh?_ You _know_ about this?"

"It's no big deal," Rusty said and the immediate, scornful noise showed how very wrong Danny thought he was. "It's kind of obvious when you think about it."

Danny's face was tight and white with anger. "You are the single most intelligent, most brilliant conman I've ever-"

"You proposing?"

"Rusty, I'm serious!" He was. Extremely so. "You are remarkable. And I will not tolerate people who are too stupid to recognise this fact."

"Oh, Danny-"

"'Oh, Danny,' nothing. I want them all to see what I see. I want them all to feel what I feel."

Rusty sighed. "You want to teach the world to sing as well?" and then before Danny could say anything, he added, "I don't have a problem with it."

"I do."

"I know. Look, it's kind of inevitable."

"It's inevitable that people-"

"It's inevitable that people see _you_. Danny, you are blinding. They're never gonna miss you. And sometimes…" he shrugged.

Danny got it. "They focus on me. They ignore you."

_Exactly._

"You think that makes me feel any better, Rus? You think I didn't want to punch Dalton until he-"

"-oh, I could tell the red mist was rising." Rusty's lips were twitching and Danny felt very far from laughing.

"You're the wind beneath my wings? Is that it?"

Rusty grinned. "Depends how many beans I've eaten."

"Damn it, Rusty! It's not fair!"

It wasn't fair and it burned deep. Rusty: genius and intellect and radiance, everything he'd never thought to find, everything he'd never thought to look for, the equal of which he knew he would never discover again in this world. And tainting this phenomenon was the sludge of the blinkered, moronic, idiotic, cretinous-

"Danny." Cutting right through his thoughts and he could see that Rusty had sobered up. "It's no big deal, Danny, because when they're thanking you, they're thanking us. You know it and I know it-"

"-and they should know it." He hated the thought that Rusty went unnoticed and unappreciated. "They should understand. They should look at you."

Rusty reached over and squeezed his arm gently.

"Some people don't and won't and some people do and always will. How does Saul look at me? How does Reuben? The people who matter see very clearly. And those who don't, don't matter."

"But-"

"And the person who matters most, sees everything."

He stared at Rusty whose eyes were telling him exactly how he felt. It wasn't the world's opinion that Rusty cared about. Rusty was perfectly secure as long as he had the regard of one person because only that person's view counted.

"But it's not fair," Danny repeated with less vehemence.

Rusty smiled. "It's no good holding on to an argument that way when you know I've won."

_I want-_

_I know._

"If it were the other way around-"

"-oh, I'd be furious," Rusty said calmly. "I'd want to explain to each and every one who dared to disregard you how very wrong they were. But it isn't that way round. And it's fine, it really is. I'm happy in the shadows and you're made for the spotlight."

Danny exhaled slowly and ran a hand over his mouth. It was still wrong but damn it, he could see the Rustylogic.

"Out of interest, what's your next line?" Rusty asked lightly. "No one puts Baby in the corner?"

Danny's lips twitched and the remnants of frustration and injustice evaporated.

"I'll still hate it," he said. "Every time."

"I know. You wouldn't be you if you didn't. Come on. I feel like Mexico."

"Mexican?"

"Mexico," Rusty corrected and Danny laughed and went to pack.


End file.
